Tournament Rules

Welcome Ambassador. In the spirit of civility among armed sentient beings, it is necessary for us to lay some ground rules for your lordships. These will be the rules of the tournament.

Format

The Ambassadorial Tournament is a 5-round, ITC Grand Tournament event. You may wish to look on the Prizes page, and at the FAQ here, as you prepare your armed entourages for battle.

The key things to remember in this Grand Tournaments is:

Preference for byes (if ever necessary) will be for prior champions.

Victory points are used to determine which Ambassador earns a bye for the next round otherwise.

Important: Only one Ambassador will be selected to represent each Codex/Index. Thus you will never face the same codex twice! Because of this, registering VERY early is recommended. This is one of the unique trademarks of our Ambassadorial Grand Tournament.

List Construction

You are allowed 2,000 points with which to build your force. Lists may be created from the approved Codex’s/Index’s we list on the registration page, using the currently published Indexes and/or Codexes on Games Workshop’s website as of 4/1/2018, or those announced for pre-sale by then. See below for details.

Battle forged Armies are required. They may be constructed from a maximum of 3 Detachments (as defined in the 40k BRB). You must include a minimum of one Battalion Detachment (or Brigade Detachment if you prefer) and you may not use the Supreme Command Detachment. You may have 0-1 Lord of War choices in your force.

All models in your force must come from the codex and have the Keyword of the force you were selected to be the Ambassador for. For example, if you were chosen to be the Adeptus Astartes Space Marine Ambassador, your models must have the Adepts Astartes Keyword and would be taken exclusively from the actual Space Marine Codex (thus no Blood Angels will be joining them as an example). The Craftworld Eldar Ambassador may not take Drukhari units, since they are not in the Craftworld Codex, even though they share the Aeldari keyword. The simple rule is that you are an Ambassador of a pure force of your choosing and must represent it!

Rough Riders and similar units whose unit entry title in the Index is distinct and different from that in the Codex, or only exists in the Index, can be used for your army.

The Chaos Space Marine Ambassador may select any units specific to Codex: Chaos Space Marines OR the Codex: Thousand Sons OR Codex: Death Guard, but as usual, all unit entries must be from the singular Codex that is chosen and assigned to them.

Note that Forge World rules are not being used for the tournament for any reason. While you are allowed to use your beautifully painted and size appropriate models as a proxy if it meets all other requirements, their rules will not be allowed.

Once you are the confirmed Ambassador for your faction you will be sent an e-mail with instructions to provide your list which should be followed. Once you submit your list, you may not change it, unless asked to by the Organizer. By attending you agree that anything illegal in the list will be removed by a judge for the duration of the tournament even if the organizer does not identify it before the day of the tournament! Being accurate is the sole responsibility of the Ambassadors, not the organizer. Your agreement on this point is a condition of attending.

The minimum painting requirements for every model in the army are explained in the Painting section below. In addition, we apply the WYSIWYG rule, which means anything on the list must be modeled. Conversions should be made clear to the opponent before the game starts. For example, using custom axes instead of hammers for Grey Knight Nemesis Daemon Hammers might be okay as long as the enemy knows what to expect. Conversions are encouraged, not discouraged. So is clarity.

Schedule

Day One

10:00 – 10:15 Pre-game Announcements

10:15 – 1:15 Round 1

1:15 – 2:00 Move and display armies—a hearty lunch will be provided.

2:00 – 5:00 Round 2

5:15 – 8:15 Round 3

Day Two

11:00 – 11:15 Pre-game Announcements

11:15 – 1:45 Round 4

1:45 – 2:30 Lunch (snacks and drinks provided or we have many restaurants nearby)

Supplies you must have on hand to participate (no exceptions)

Your Official Index and/or Codex. Battlescribes word will not be sufficient.

The 8th Edition rules

6 objective markers

Tape measures

Your legal army, painted and based.

Copies of your army list (one for the TO, 5 for opponents), in a legible typed or written format. While this information will be available online, online access is not itself a guarantee.

Glue for field repairs. It happens.

Painting

Best Painted is prize worthy. As such there is a 3 color painting requirement for all models, in order for them to be legal. If a model does not have 3 substantial colors on it, it is not eligible to compete, and will be removed from play for the remainder of the tournament. All the bases of your models need to be painted or otherwise decorated.

Sportsmanship

Bracket tournaments have no sportsmanship score as part of the overall score. As such one might feel freer to embrace ones more uninhibited nature. Refrain from doing so. First of all out of self-interest: the prize for Best Sportsman is pretty nice and while it does not affect your bracket, it is still a prize. The second reason is that you are an Ambassador for your faction; it would be a pity for you not to return for future events if you are as good as the Great Ones believe you are.

We have adopted some rules for basic behavior:

Slow Play: Games should be played in a timely fashion. Stalling is not the mark of a good general or an honorable and worthy opponent. You are held responsible, to both yourself and to all your opponents, to run your army list effectively in the time frame allowed. Slow play will be monitored. Judges reserve the right to first warn and then if necessary dock players for slow play/stalling. We do not issue second warnings.

Spirit of fairness: Good, if not stellar, sportsmanship is an absolute requirement. While certain events have scoring systems in place to deal with this aspect of the hobby, good sportsmanship is simply expected from all attendees. Throwing a fit, acting out against your opponent, arguing your position with a judge after the final decision seems set to everyone at the table, or any other manifestation of poor sportsmanship won’t be tolerated.

Quitting: We are all adults and are expected to behave as such. Quitting during an event affects the quality of the experience for all attendees and creates a significant disruption for event staff. Failure to finish a game will lead to forfeiture of all games and potentially future participation. There are legitimate circumstances that would require someone to have to leave the event. For such instances, please speak to the head event staff prior to leaving the premises so the judges can have time to make the proper adjustments. Appropriate reasons include such things as Family, Health, and Work-related emergencies. Let your judge know first.

Rules Disputes: Rules disputes are bound to occur at an event. Players should attempt to resolve all rules disputes between themselves at the table (using the appropriate codex, rulebook, and FAQ). If this fails, contact a Judge who will attempt to resolve the dispute using the appropriate game system documents. In some extreme situations, a Floor Judge reserves the right to escalate issues to the Head Rules Judge– his/her decision is final.

Cheating: Cheating will not be tolerated. Cheating affects the quality of the experience for all attendees. Proof of cheating will lead to forfeiture of all games.

Players are expected to have a solid grasp of the rules and are responsible for challenging their opponent(s) when those rules are broken. If the players cannot come to a resolution, then the matter must be brought to the attention of a Floor Judge DURING the game. At that point the Floor Judge(s) will weigh the evidence and take appropriate action (which might result in anything from a warning to expulsion). Please remember, this is a complex game and honest mistakes are often made. Every attempt to resolve the issue should be made prior to calling over a Floor Judge. Claiming your opponent is cheating to simply influence the outcome of the game is cheating in and of itself.

Observing Games: As some of the larger tournaments enter the final rounds, it is often tempting to seek out and watch the ‘top tables’. Simply observing a game in progress is fine, but observers should NEVER interject their own commentary, rules interpretations or tactical advice to either player involved in the game.

Care of Terrain: Please treat the terrain with the utmost care throughout the weekend. If accidental damage does occur to a piece of terrain, please notify an event judge so the piece can be flagged for repair.

Trash: Please, please, please pick up after yourself. Leaving trash on and under tables makes for an unpleasant environment for everyone.